PS Maid of the Loch

PS Maid of the Loch is the last paddle steamer built in the United Kingdom and the largest inland waterway vessel ever built in Britain. Built by A. and J. Inglis of Glasgow for the British Transport Commission, she was launched on 5 March 1953 and entered service later that year on Loch Lomond. She was assembled at the yard, dismantled and sent by rail to Balloch to be reassembled on a purpose built slipway. Her two-cylinder compound diagonal steam engine suited the loch. She carried passengers from Balloch for 29 years until a last commercial sailing on 31 August 1981, then decayed through several owners until Dumbarton District Council bought her in 1992. A charity now restores her on the Balloch slipway, and she opens to visitors on weekends in the summer season.